Mobile Telecommunications Company (Zain), the third largest telecom operator in West Asia and a leading operator in Africa, has initiated talks with several Indian telecom service providers to buy stakes.
Summons have been issued to some new telecom firms asking for financial records and documents, according to official sources. However, the names of the companies could not be ascertained.
The new telecom players in the country, which had received licences in January 2008 and were subsequently allocated spectrum, are ready to roll out services in the next three to four months.
The ministry of corporate affairs - under new minister Murli Deora - has reopened for further investigation the cases of two companies allegedly involved in the unravelling 2G scam. A senior official said that the ministry was currently probing Swan Telecom and Loop Telecom.
The CBI contended before the Delhi high court on Tuesday that there were glaring illegalities in the trial court judgment that acquitted former telecom minister A Raja and others in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.
Etisalat, which is mulling an Indian foray, has since started discussions with several telecom companies including the Videocon Group's Datacom Solutions and Essar-controlled Loop Telecom for equity. Ravi Sharma, CEO of Datacom confirmed that Etilasat was one of the companies to which the company was talking but declined to offer details. Loop Telecom declined to comment.
The operator is planning to turn aggressive in adding subscribers.
The government on Tuesday started allocating GSM spectrum to new telecom players, commencing with the Tamil Nadu circle including Chennai, in a move that would infuse more competition in the mobile telephony space.Five new players -- Videocon-promoted Datacom, Idea Cellular, realty major Unitech, Swan Telecom and Loop Telecom -- have been given start-up 4.4 MHz GSM spectrum in Tamil Nadu circle.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday issued show causes notices for alleged foreign exchange violations of Rs 3,805 crore (Rs 38.05 billion) to telecom firms and other entities as part of its investigation into the 2G spectrum allocation case.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday slashed termination charges by 33 per cent.
International telcos such as Russia's Sistema and Norway's Telenor and foreign investment funds such as KAIF Investments Mauritius and Capital Global Ltd (investors in Loop Telecom) have sent legal notices to the Indian government under the respective Bilateral Investment Promotion & Protection Agreement or Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.
Essar Energy chairman Ravi Ruia on Wednesday announced his decision to step down from the post amid the Central Bureau of Investigation claiming that the Essar Group had suppressed facts related to its equity holding in Loop Telecom, an allegation denied by the conglomerate.
The apex court would hear the matter on March 1 and the outcome would decide the forum and the course of trial.
'Initially, I didn't think much of him. But when I walked alongside him, I realized he has what it takes.'
Seeking exemption from personal appearance for Ruias, Rohatgi said he was appearing despite the fact that his clients, at present in UAE, have not been 'properly' served with the court summonses.
The CBI has claimed that Essar had more than 10 per cent of cross-holdings in Loop Telecom which was against the norms, a charge denied by the two companies.
Nine companies were given new licences in January 2008.
Telcos such as Loop, Etisalat and Videocon have done little to churn the subscriber base.
A special court on Thursday acquitted all accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam cases. The scam relates to the granting of 2G spectrum licence allocations in 2007-08 which caused, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Here is a detailed timeline of how the case came to light and how it has progressed over the years:
The fear of another scam pushed the government into a rather long period of so-called 'policy paralysis'. To play it safe, the price of spectrum in all subsequent auctions was benchmarked to the high 3G rates, says Surajeet Das Gupta.
The company has launched a new card, the India One Pre-paid, under which users can make STD calls at a flat rate of Re 1 per minute. SMSes to any destination in the country would also be charged at a flat rate of Re 1 per message, BPL Mobile director and CEO S Subramaniam told Business Standard in an interview.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, on October 15, gave its recommendation on spectrum auction for premium 900 Mhz band and 1800 Mhz band that are presently being used for 2G GSM mobile services by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications.
Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) has written to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) stating that a recent complaint against it by Bharti Airtel is a deliberate, malicious attempt at defaming RJIL's consumer-friendly tariff. RJIL has also asked the regulator to warn Airtel against 'making such frivolous complaints in the future'. The move is in response to Airtel recently requesting Trai to bring content aired through broadband under the regulatory fold and keep a check against discriminatory bundling tactics.
After a month of protest against commencement of trial, former Telecom Minister A Raja on Thursday opened his defence with the cross-examination of key Central Bureau of Investigation witness Aseervatham Achary, who was his former additional private secretary.
The SC had reserved its verdict on a bunch of similar petitions.
Telecom subscriber base crossed the 95-crore mark in August, after a gap of more than two years, on the back of higher mobile users whose number touched 92.43 crore.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate's pleas seeking an early hearing into the appeals challenging the acquittal of former telecom minister A Raja and others in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
The court said a 'scam was created when there was none'.
In a major initiative to provide telecom services to rural people using Wireless in Local Loop technology, the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on Tuesday, launched 'Grameen Sanchar Sewak' project.
Mirroring the growth in cellular services, the basic telecom including the WLL (mobile) services, has touched 31.82 lakh customers, with Reliance Infocomm leading the tally with 16.7 lakh at the end of June this year.
While there has been no official confirmation, some sources said the CRS informed in its report that the accident occurred due to human error on the part of on-duty officials in the Signalling and Telecom Department as well as the Traffic Department.
The basic and cellular industry seems to have agreed to workout a long-term solution to resolve the controversial Wireless in Local Loop issue, and the Group constituted by Communications and IT Minister Arun Shourie
The telecom sector's adjusted gross revenues have grown 13.2% year-on-year in the June quarter.
Mobile phone service providers alone jointly reported gross revenue of Rs 55,164.18 crore (RS 551.64 billion).
After a two year run-in with controversies, telecom sector now looks stable and seems back on its feet with initial investment proposal of over Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) received in 2013.
To bring clarity, the department clearly defines terms such as promoter and competitor.
The telephone subscriber base was 996.49 million at the end of March.
Sources say companies will have to keep the market share of merged entities below 50% in all circles
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances